The New York Times Presents: The Brooklyn Circus (BKc) = The Revolution Will Be Editiorialized.

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The Bearded Dandy of Brooklyn

By ALEX WILLIAMS
Published: January 4, 2011


OUIGI THEODORE, the founder of the Brooklyn Circus, a retro-urban fashion boutique and label, has heard it all before: dandy, preppy, Anglophile, fop. Still, he was flummoxed when a customer walked into his boutique a year ago, took one look at the bow ties and straw boaters for sale, and declared it the height of “steampunk.”


Mr. Theodore, 35, had to Google the word to find out that it referred to a neo-Victorian style built around gas-lamp-era suits, starched collars and gold watch fobs.

“It’s a mix of old and new, so I guess that’s the comparison,” he said as he took a break from chatting up customers in his boutique on a recent Friday. He wore a pair of Mark McNairy red-and-black wool trousers and a newsboy cap, accessorized with a Balinese scarf, silver Navajo rings and a camouflage German military jacket. The look was Jelly Roll Morton, channeling Hendrix.

Whatever you call it, Mr. Theodore has cultivated a unique style that has won him applause not only among the fashion pundits of Brooklyn, but also from streetwise fans as far away as Europe and Japan.

His fashion quest, besides making a buck, is to elevate a side of black urban culture that goes beyond the baggy jeans and sneakers that still define hip-hop. “Our goal is to refine the image of urban America,” Mr. Theodore said. “My dream is to see guys hanging on the corner in suits.”

He’s making strides. The original Brooklyn Circus store, which opened in Boerum Hill in 2006, has become a must-go for tourists in skinny jeans from places like Seoul, Berlin and Johannesburg.

Since then, he’s opened a second shop in San Francisco; a store-within-a-store at Sir & Madame in Chicago; and a pop-up shop in Stockholm. He also sells to 25 specialty shops in Japan. And the man behind the brand? He has become a recognizable figure on the streets of Brooklyn and has established himself as something of a trend forecaster for advertising and marketing companies looking for what’s next. Mr. Theodore has consulted on campaigns for Hennessy, Toyota and Casio G-Shock, he said. And last spring, he was a featured speaker at the PSFK Conference, a trend-forecasting summit in New York.

Whatever the setting, his message remains the same: open your mind about what youth-oriented black street fashion can be."

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CHRIS LIVE AKA SHAKER SAYS: A lot has changed since my GODbrother, the infamous S.B., introduced me to Quigi some 10 years ago. Ramsey Racing transitioned from clandestine party promoters to become Brooklyn Circus - a brand that is now rapidly revolutionizing the way that America views the corner store couture ethos that we abide by here @ Livestyle.

Recently, preeminent newspaper of record, The New York Times, caught up with the popular traveling fashion hippodrome to chronicle this lifestyle company's unique bi-coastal gone global panache. The revolution may NOT be televised, but it will be editorialized ... lol. Brooklyn does it again!